The last thing Sally did was to lay out hers and Dave’s clothes for the morning. She climbed into bed at 22.30, the alarm was set for 05.00.
Dave sat up as soon as the alarm went off, he still felt tired, but was out of bed as soon as he switched off the alarm. Sally had stirred, but not opened her eyes. He showered and dressed before he went to make coffee. By the time he returned Sally was in the shower, he left her coffee on the bedside table and went into the spare room, he checked all the paperwork, putting it in his briefcase, in his backpack he put the laptop he had recovered from the flat. The iPhone he took downstairs and put it in his jacket inside pocket. Sally had come into the kitchen dressed ready for her security interview. They ate breakfast standing up, “can you drive on the way down, I will direct you if needed?” Sally nodded, “you still look tired,” “I feel tired, the concentration yesterday, wore me out. Hopefully after today, this will all be someone else’s problem.”
With everything in the car, they set off just before 06.00. As they approached the motorway, Sally pulled into a garage to fill up, Dave got out and did it, when he went into pay he bought two cans of Red Bull. He put them, unopened, into the cup holder. “Head down the motorway until you see signs for Luton Airport, wake me then.” He felt his arm being pushed and opened his eyes. The car had stopped, Sally had parked in the car park next to the station. “I didn’t need directions, I found it OK.” Climbing out, he took the two cans of energy drink, he opened one and drunk it down. “I can’t stand the taste of that stuff.” The other can went into his backpack. He picked up two coffees as they passed through the station. The platform was a lot busier than the last time he was there. He let the first train go, it stopped at every station on the way, the next one stopped only once before St. Pancras. A tube to Vauxhall and then a fifteen-minute walk to the US Embassy. Dave asked Sally to wait outside with his backpack, he didn’t think he could take a laptop inside. Reluctantly she agreed. “I won’t be long, it shouldn’t take more than twenty minutes. Inside, there were armed security guards, he said to a receptionist behind a screen who he was and who he had come to see, he handed over his passport, she consulted a screen and then said for him to put his briefcase on the conveyor belt for screening, all his possessions had to be put in a tray to be checked as well. He then had to pass through a security arch. Once on the other side and everything retrieved, he then headed to the next reception desk. He asked for Cyrus Grantly. He sat on one of a row of hard chairs against a wall. Cyrus came through a door a few minutes later, Hi David, where is your lady?” “I have another call to make and I have a laptop with me, she is waiting outside.” He passed over the phone, looking round to make sure no-one else was within hearing distance he said that he thought the two people in the images he gave him could possibly be being blackmailed. “These pictures caused a mighty stir back home, I’m not sure what they are doing about it. The phone will be on a flight this afternoon, if there is any information that concerns the US then we will remove it and send you a link to download everything else.” “Thanks for that, if I find out any more, I will message you.” With a quick handshake, they went their separate ways. Sally was waiting outside, “did it go OK,” “yes, let’s head to Whitehall.”
In the MOD, they headed for one of the restaurants, with more coffee they sat down to wait. Sally said she was nervous, Dave reassured her, “be honest, don’t avoid answering any questions, some of the questions may upset you, especially if they ask you about your husband, they won’t mind if you cry. It will be OK, you will be fine.” Ten minutes before the interview was due to start, she stood up to go. Dave followed her out, there were too many people around to give her a kiss, he rubbed her back and patted her bum. “Come up to the Brigadier’s office when you finish, if we aren’t there, someone will tell you where we are. Good luck.” With that she left, Dave decided he might as well head up to his meeting, he was thirty minutes early, but thought he might as well sit on one of the Brigadier’s comfy sofa’s rather than the hard chairs in the restaurant. He drunk the other can of Red Bull and dropped it in a litter bin as he walked along the corridor. There was no waiting, he was shown into the office. “Good morning sir,” “Hello David,” as he looked at him, he asked if he was ill. “No sir, I have had very little sleep since Sunday working on this case.” “The original purpose of this meeting was to thank you for the work you have done and to talk to you about future projects. The others at the meeting in the basement were impressed by your results, less so in your insolence and lack of respect.” “Sorry sir, it’s how I am, I do my work and I am not bothered who I upset.” “We will chat and then you can tell me about what you have found out.” “I have been asked to retain your services for anything we might need you for in the future, I won’t insult you by the suggestion made by others that we officially recall you. Tell me what you want and I will decide whether we will agree.” “Sir, with regard to the money, £5000.00 per week when I am working, £5000.00 per month to retain my services. Payment for any work Miss Fellowes does would be on a pro-rata basis. I want the option to refuse a job if I think I am being set up, I am not an executioner, I will not do the MOD’s dirty work, there are people in Hereford much better in that department. Expenses to be covered by the MOD. My methods for obtaining information, is not to be questioned, let’s deal in results. I will report to you, or anyone you nominate on a weekly basis or more frequently if required. That’s it, I think that covers everything.”
The Brigadier had been writing as Dave spoke, he stopped, “one question, do you have additional identities unknown to the MOD?” “Yes sir, three.”
“I don’t see any problems with any of your requests, I will have it typed up as a contract, some of your wording may need to be rephrased, I will email it to you when it is done.”
“Right, what do you have for me today.” “Not here, did you book a room in the basement?” “Yes, shall we go down?” “Before we do, can I give you the laptop from the flat? There’s nothing of any value on it. Sir, two things, would you arrange for someone from IT to meet us down there and Miss Fellowes is being vetted this morning, when she is finished, I said for her to come here, would one of your staff show her down to where we will be.”
The meeting room was smaller, the same girl Dave had seen before was again putting biscuits and coffee on a side table. “Could you rustle up a buffet for two, the last time I ate was at 05.30.” She looked towards the Brigadier who nodded. Dave was opening his briefcase when there was a knock at the door, the IT chap entered and asked what they wanted him for, “I need a laptop that will accept a USB stick, I need to be able to project the images onto a screen or a whiteboard.” “Can I have the stick please?” “No, when you bring the laptop, I will test it, then you can set it up to project images. Thank you.” He left and returned a short while later, “Can you try this one.” Dave turned the screen towards him and inserted the stick. A list of the files was available, he double clicked on one of the pdf’s, a bank statement appeared on the screen. He closed it and removed the stick. “Thank you, I just need it to be seen on the whiteboard now.” A few minutes later he was gone, the buffet had arrived. As soon as they were on their own, he opened his briefcase, taking out several envelopes, he passed a sheet from one of them to the Brigadier. “Have a look at that sir.”
As the Brigadier read, Dave moved to the table where the buffet was, he filled a plate with sandwiches and poured two coffees.
As soon as he had finished reading, he drunk some of the coffee then picked up the phone on the end of the desk, “Find the MI5 officer and send him down here.” He made another call, “Sir, I’m in a meeting with David Stretton,” there was a pause, “the sergeant who discovered the images of the Home Secretary, Sir, he has more information that could be much more serious in nature. Could you spare some time to sit in on his presentation? Meeting room fifteen.” He sat back down across from Dave, “Major General George Robertson will be joining us, he may not take too kindly to your presentation methods,” “That’s OK, I’m not here to gain points for popularity sir.” The Brigadier shook his head.
The first to arrive was the MI5 officer, it was a different one from the last time, he took a coffee and sat down. Dave re-arranged the chairs, to allow him to be at the head of the table and everyone to see the whiteboard. There was another knock, Sally gingerly pushed the door open, she smiled when she saw Dave, there was a drawn look on her face. “Come in, we are waiting for one other before we start, did it go OK?” “Yes.”
The Major General walked in without knocking, the Brigadier rose to greet him. “Thank you for coming sir, can I introduce you to those round the table.” With this done, The Major General looked at Dave, “so you are the sergeant?” “Yes sir,” “I have been told you are insolent and rude.” “Your information is not wrong sir, I disobey orders as well. Would you like a coffee before we get started.” “No, get on with it.” Dave went over to the table and poured a coffee for Sally, he returned to the head of the table and passed round copies of the presentation. The two new arrivals read through the sheet. “Where’s your proof?” Dave brought up the latest bank statement from the USB stick, “can you see the names at the top of the statement, one is a Chinese spy, the other is a now dead ex-employee of S417, they have been systematically blackmailing attendees at sex parties they have organised? There are hidden cameras throughout the building, I will hand round some images later for you to examine.” “Where did you get these bank statements from?” “The bank,” was all that Dave would say. “Those who attended and were working for government departments, I suspect were blackmailed for information or influence. The ones in business were blackmailed for money. He went back to the whiteboard, he pointed to one of the listings. At first I thought the payee reference was written in some sort of code, however Miss Fellowes worked out it was an anagram of the person’s name. This set of eight letters when unscrambled reads as R. Christy, he works in this building in procurement.” He then brought up an image of the personnel file. “Note the image on the screen.” Dave then passed round five images to each person. There were gasps, not only for the discovery of the links but the images he had passed round. “Has this person been arrested yet?” “No sir, I intend to interview him later today.” The next question from the Major General was to ask where the images came from. “I’d rather not answer that question.” “Damn it man, where did you get these images?” “How I get information is my business, with all due respect sir, I won’t be telling you or anyone else. Can we get back to why we are here?” The Major General wanted to say more but stopped himself. There are thousands of images and sixty pages of bank statements to go through, it’s not my line of work, something needs to be done quickly, I can advise how I think it should be approached. If anyone has any questions, other than my methods of obtaining information then I will try to answer them.” “Who owns Skifford Hall?” It was the Brigadier, it is owned, as I stated, through a shell company registered in Singapore by Lui Ching-ling and another Chinese secret service agent, currently in Shanghai. Another piece of information I have obtained is that there are two Americans in some other images.” Dave sat down, he had finished, he looked towards the MI5 officer, “I want to tell you that the images are held in the cloud, other than this stick, which will be kept here. If you think that you can track them down through me, forget it, you will never find them. Also, if anyone is snooping around or following me, I will deal with them in a most unpleasant manner. I know what you people are like, you want all the glory for yourselves, do I make myself clear.” All the man could do was nod. The others stared at Dave. The Major General stood up, “everyone leave us and wait outside, I want to speak to this soldier.” After they had filed out, he sat nearer to Dave, “what they say about you is true, but I like your style, I understand the Brigadier wants to keep you on a retainer, I agree, you know what you are doing and get results, you put the fear of God into the MI5 chap, it was worth coming down just to see his face. There will be more repercussions from this meeting, I will have to speak to many people this afternoon, make yourself available at short notice.” “Sir, I have had virtually no sleep since Sunday working on this, I will need to sleep soon or I won’t be any use to anyone.” “Make sure you are available from Thursday morning onwards, I will arrange something for then or Friday. I will pass on the details to the Brigadier.
He left the room saying to the others to return. Dave was pouring another coffee when they walked in. “Nothing personal,” he said to the man from MI5, “I have to look after myself.” Turning to the Brigadier, “I think the meeting is finished, The Major General is organising something for later in the week. I need to speak to Richard Christy next, we will need personnel here and I’m not sure if the police need to be called. Would you speak to the head of HR and ask them to come down here.” Sally had said nothing and sat there listening, she now approached Dave, “you did well, but look absolutely worn out, can I get you anything?” “Just coffee, please.”
The head of HR had arrived, he was speaking to the Brigadier, occasionally they would glance over towards Dave. The Brigadier left, John Crossley came over to Dave, “I have been given some background information and understand you want to interview a civilian employee.” “Yes, I suspect he is being blackmailed and I need whatever information he may have.” “Who is this?” “Sally Fellowes, she is my researcher and assistant, she will be making notes during the interview.” “I will go to see Mr. Christy and return shortly.” “Do not tell him what it is about.”
There was only Dave and Sally left in the room, she hugged him tightly, “How did it go?” “I cried, but got through it.” “I have a lot to tell you, would you be able to get Thursday off?” “If I can use the phone, I will try now, the students aren’t back yet so it should be OK.” She came off the phone and nodded.
John Crossley returned with Richard Christy, Dave sat down at the head of the table, Christy sat to one side, the head of HR sat next to him. “Thank you for coming, my name is David Stretton, I work for military intelligence and I would like to ask you a few questions, Miss Fellowes at the end of the table is taking notes. John Crossley will give you any advice you might need before answering.” Dave’s voice was soft and friendly, Sally could only just hear it. “Have you ever been to Skifford Hall?” Dave watched his face, he licked his lips before answering, “No, never heard of the place. “Do you know Freddie Small?” “Sure, he does some of the passes.” “Have you ever been to a party with Freddie?” “Again, there was a lick of the lips before answering. “No.” Dave then took one of the images from out of an envelope, “I think you might not be telling me the truth, shall we start again? Richard, I am not here to judge you, I need information, nothing else, once I have that, I will be gone.” How long have you been paying money to keep this quiet?” “Just over a year,” “how much do you pay?” “£1500.00 every month.” There were tears running down his face. “Did they ask you to do anything else?” “They wanted to know if I had any influence over the purchasing, I said I didn’t have the authority to make decisions.” “Who contacted you, and how did they do it?” “At first it was a friendly chat, there was someone at the parties who was the organiser, he would chat, thinking about it later, he did it in a very subtle way. One day I received an email at work, it had one of the pictures attached, there were instructions with the sort code, account number and a reference I had to put on the payments. It said I had to send £1500.00 every month, If I didn’t, they would send more images to my boss.” Sally took a tissue out of her bag and passed it up the table. “You don’t need to make any more payments, the images are now in safe custody. Thank you for being honest, you may go now. The two rose and left. “You were very gentle with him,” “I didn’t think I would get anywhere by shouting.” “What will happen to him?” “I guess he will be gone by the end of the week or sooner, he is a security risk, he cannot be trusted.” “If he had reported it when it first happened, he wouldn’t be in the position he is now. Let’s go home.” When they got to Luton, Sally drove home, Dave went up the stairs and lay on the bed, Sally had to help him undress. He was still asleep when she left for work in the morning.
© 10210ken 2024
